Exporters and companies that generate foreign
currency will be paid the equivalent of 15,000 Zimbabwe dollars, central
bank Governor Gideon Gono said in a monetary policy statement today,
according to a copy on the central bank's Web site. The currency is
officially pegged at 250 to the U.S. dollar, while it trades at about 20,000
on the black market.

Gono has been under increasing pressure to devalue
the Zimbabwe dollar to boost exports and help revive the economy from an
eight-year recession, triggered by President Robert Mugabe's seizure of
white-owned commercial farms.

``The net revenue exporters will
receive is closer to the cost base and will return viability to the mining
industry,'' Ian Saunders, president of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines said by
telephone from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-biggest city. ``If you increase
exporters' viability, you increase economic activity.''

Exporters will be required to
exchange money at the central bank to receive the better rate, said
Saunders.

``There is no widespread devaluation,'' he added. ``Everything
will be done through the central bank.''

Zimbabwe has suffered
frequent food, fuel and foreign currency shortages since 2000, when Mugabe
ordered white-owned commercial farms be given to black subsistence farmers.
The government has also printed money to pay debts, boosting
inflation.

The inflation rate reached a record 2,200 percent in March,
from 1,730 percent in February, Gono said today. The central bank increased
its benchmark interest rate to 600 percent from 500 percent, he added. At
the same time, the International Monetary Fund estimates that the economy
will contract 5.7 percent this year, after shrinking 4.8 percent last
year.

Stock Rally

The Zimbabwean Stock Exchange Industrials index
has gained more than eight-fold this year as interest rates were kept at
less than a third of the inflation rate, prompting investors to look to the
stock market for better returns than the government-controlled money market.
The index jumped 9.6 percent to 4,714,403 today, according to Bloomberg
data.

Zimbabwe's central bank will pay gold exporters 350,000 Zimbabwe
dollars a gram for those who elect not to retain foreign exchange earnings,
Gono said. That is up from 16,000 Zimbabwe dollars previously. Gold
production dropped 19 percent to 2.24 metric tons in the first quarter from
the same period last year, Gono said.

The central bank will also help
boost the earnings of tobacco growers. Tobacco farmers will be paid a
``top-up support price'' for every kilogram they sell, depending on the sale
price, Gono said. He also raised the amount of foreign earnings that tobacco
growers can retain to 20 percent from 15 percent.

``In order to
encourage and support farmers in rebuilding the glitter of the golden leaf,
it has become necessary that viability in the tobacco sector be enhanced
through additional support measures,'' Gono said.

Tobacco Crop

The
country's tobacco crop will probably increase 46 percent to 80 million
kilograms this year, Gono said today. Production has slumped from a 2000
high of 236 million kilograms following the government's failed land reform
program.

The central bank governor also said that 500,000 tons of
corn has been ordered to alleviate a food shortage and urged the government
to seek partners to help develop diamond mines. Farmers have delivered
around 170,000 tons of wheat to the national grain buying agency, he
said.

Gono resisted calls to devalue the currency in his previous
monetary policy statement on Jan. 31. The Zimbabwe dollar was last devalued
by 60 percent against the U.S. dollar on July 31, 2006, the third time in a
year.

HARARE, Zimbabwe: State central bank governor Gideon
Gono announced measures Thursday that effectively devalued the Zimbabwe
dollar 60-fold in most official transactions - but he insisted the move was
not a true devaluation in the nation's crumbling economy.

Gono said
the measure aimed to draw hard currency away from the thriving black market
and back into the official financial system.

Analysts said Gono announced
a split exchange rate in a bid to alleviate acute hard currency shortages
and it typified the bizarre nature of the worst economic crisis in Zimbabwe
since independence in 1980.

The governor said hard currency earners
submitting US dollars into the country's coffers would be paid out at the
official legal exchange rate of 250 Zimbabwean dollars to the US
dollar.

But while US$1 would first be changed for 250 Zimbabwe dollars -
it would then be multiplied to 15,000 Zimbabwe dollars for exporters,
international organizations, gold and tobacco producers, Zimbabweans abroad
remitting money home and other genuine "generators of foreign
currency."

"This will be done without altering the official exchange rate
of 250-1" in other routine business, he said, without explaining the
details.Speaking in a national financial policy review delivered at the
annual Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in the second city of Bulawayo,
Gono warned reporters he did not want to see headlines that he had devalued
the currency.

"There's no devaluation. There's not going to be any
exchange rate movement. We have not devalued the dollar but sought ways to
enhance the viability of foreign currency generators in a sector specific
way," Gono said.

He brought the policy review forward from July, saying
the economy couldn't wait until then for new recovery
measures.

President Robert Mugabe has publicly opposed an outright
devaluation and fired one finance minister who proposed the only way to
balance the nation's books was to let the Zimbabwe dollar float against
market forces.

Analysts said the black market rate of about 25,000-1 -
about 100 fold above the official rate - was a true reflection of the market
rate driven by demand and Zimbabwe's skewed business
conditions.

Independent Harare economist John Robertson said black market
dealing would continue to thrive. The new and unusual measure lacked enough
incentive to attract serious hard cash.

"It's juvenile. It's
pathetic, but I'll give him (Gono) 3 out of 10 marks for trying," he
said.

Gono acknowledged the economy was in deep trouble, but said erratic
rain and drought slashed food production, forcing the government to spend
scarce hard currency on importing 500,000 metric tons of mostly corn, the
staple food, to avert starvation in coming months.

He said the
Reserve Bank also ordered 100,000 ox-drawn plows, 100,000 animal-drawn carts
for transportation and other simple farm tools to be distributed across the
country.

"We are going back to basics," he said. "Food security is at the
heart of our inflation."

Mechanized farming largely collapsed during
the often violent campaign to seize thousands of white-owned commercial
farms that began in 2000, disrupting the agriculture-based
economy.

Gono confirmed that official inflation rose last month to 2,200
percent, the highest in the world, and said it was expected to worsen. The
Central Statistical Office mysteriously canceled its regular inflation
announcement early this month on a record 500 percentage point rise against
February's inflation figure of 1,700 percent.

Gono said the Reserve
Bank was fighting profiteering and "the inflation dragon."

Zimbabwe faces drought, but rejects devaluation

Reuters

Thu 26 Apr
2007, 16:38 GMT

By Cris Chinaka

HARARE, April 26 (Reuters)
- Zimbabwe's central bank on Thursday introduced a new foreign currency bond
to raise money to tackle a serious drought threatening the country, but
turned down demands for a general devaluation of the local
currency.

In an emergency policy statement unveiled two months ahead of
schedule, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono also offered new
price incentives for tobacco and gold producers facing collapse over a
skewed exchange rate.

Gono said Zimbabwe needed to raise foreign
currency for imports to avert further drought-induced food
shortages.

"The drought situation in the economy impels that appropriate
measures be put in place...the Reserve Bank has, with immediate effect,
opened up a foreign currency drought stabilisation bond," Gono
said.

He said the country's exporters, local individuals with foreign
currency, Zimbabweans living abroad and foreign investors could take up the
two-year bonds.

Money raised through the bond would go towards a
drought mitigation and economic stabilisation fund, which would finance food
imports, Gono said.

But analysts said the new measures would not be
enough to help President Robert Mugabe's government ride out a severe
economic crisis that many blame on mismanagement, controversial policies and
confrontation with Western powers and donors.

The World Bank says the
southern African country has the fastest shrinking economy outside a war
zone, while the IMF says Zimbabwe's inflation -- already the world's
highest -- might accelerate to 3,000 percent by the end of this
year.

On Thursday, Gono said annual inflation jumped to a record 2,200
percent last month from 1,729.9 percent in February, and he raised lending
rates by 100 percentage points to 600 percent in a bid to tame the rising
prices.

Gono, appointed by Mugabe over three years ago to turn around the
economy, said there would be no merit in accepting clamours by commerce and
industry to devalue the Zimbabwe dollar, pegged at 250 to the U.S. dollar
but selling at 100 times that rate on a thriving black market.

But he
indirectly devalued the Zimbabwe dollar to an effective rate of Z$15,000 to
the U.S. dollar by offering a new rate for foreign currency the central bank
will be buying for the new drought stabilisation fund that he said would be
set up.

The country's exporters, mainly miners and tobacco farmers, have
protested that the skewed exchange rate has devastated their
businesses.

MAIZE DEFICIT

Zimbabwe is facing an estimated 1.5
million tonnes deficit of the staple maize as a result of low production on
commercial farms seized from whites for black resettlement, but Gono said
the shortage was mainly due to drought.

"Thorough crop assessments
undertaken over the last two months have confirmed the devastating effects
of the drought this current season, which drought has not only hit Zimbabwe
alone but the sub region as a whole," he said.

Zimbabwe, once the
breadbasket of southern Africa, is crippled by foreign currency and fuel
shortages, unemployment of over 80 percent and the highest rate of inflation
in the world.

Mugabe's government has responded to a series of strikes
and political protests since the beginning of the year with a violent
crackdown on political opponents.

The central bank governor said the
overnight secured interest rate would rise to 600 percent from 500 percent
previously. The unsecured rate would rise to 700 percent from 600
percent.

In a bid to improve the viability of exporters, Gono raised the
central bank's gold support price to Z$350,000 per gram from Z$16,000 and
introduced a new support for tobacco of Z$40,000 a kg.

Leading
private Zimbabwean economic consultant and commentator John Robertson said
Gono had skirted the main issues, and his measures were
inadequate.

"This patchwork is not going to repair the economy
because the main problems we have are to do with private property rights,
lack of production and problems with the international community," he
said.

EU Parliament urges full implementation of
sanctions against Zimbabwe

International Herald Tribune

The Associated PressPublished: April 26,
2007

STRASBOURG, France: The European Parliament urged EU
member nations Thursday to ensure sanctions against the regime of Zimbabwe's
authoritarian President Robert Mugabe are rigorously applied and no banned
Zimbabweans attend a planned EU-Africa summit.

The European Union has
ordered economic and political sanctions against Mugabe and top officials
believed to be responsible for the violent crackdown on the country's
political opposition.

The sanctions include a ban on more than 100
government officials, ministers and members of Mugabe's Zimbabwe African
Union-Patriotic Front party from traveling to the 27-nation bloc. It was
extended on Monday by EU governments.

Last month, however, Belgium
granted a visa by mistake to a leading member of the ZANU-PF who is on the
blacklist. Although the visit never happened, the European Parliament warned
that such negligence severely undermines the EU's policy on
Zimbabwe.

"Weakness in the application of targeted sanctions ... gravely
disappoints those in Zimbabwe who seek the support of the international
community," the parliament said in a resolution.

The assembly
also demanded that member states ensure no Zimbabwean officials on the
blacklist are invited to the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon planned for
December.The EU is the most important international donor to Zimbabwe.
It gave ?193 million (US$263 million) to the country last year.

Zimbabwe inflation soars to 2,200 percent

Yahoo News

by Fanuel
Jongwe

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe, already battling to contain the world's
highest rate of inflation, announced on Thursday that the figure had soared
once more to 2,200 percent.

After the official announcement of the
rate for March was twice postponed earlier this month, central bank governor
Gideon Gono confirmed the figure had crashed through the 2,000 percent
barrier for the first time after rising by another 470 percentage points
from the 1,730 percent mark for February."Year-on-year inflation which
stood at 1,072.2 percent in October rose to 11,281.1 percent in December and
has risen to to 2,200 percent by March," Gono said in a televised
statement.

"Inflation pressures are seen remaining high," Gono said,
calling for a collective effort to tame the "inflation dragon".

"It's
imperative to note that the inflation dragon is as much determined by
collective mindsets of all of us as it is by monetary aggregates or what is
called money supply growth.

"As Zimbabweans, we must therefore think
and act positively avoiding the daily enterprise of scheming the downfall of
the economy as a getaway to any objective."

Gono has compared
inflation in Zimbabwe to the AIDS pandemic and the latest figure further
undermines a prediction by then finance minister Herbert Murerwa in December
that it would fall to around 300 percent by the end of 2007.

Best
Doroh, an economist with Harare-based ZB Financial Holdings, said all the
evidence pointed to the prospect of an even bigger figure by the end of the
year.

"It is difficult to say what the rate will be by year end but it
certainly won't be anywhere near what these guys had initially predicted,"
he told AFP.

John Robertson, a Harare-based independent economist,
predicted that the rate could almost double by the end of the
year.

"At the rate at which things are moving, inflation will surpass
4,000 percent by year end because the government is printing money and the
central bank was recently buying foreign currency on the parrallel market,"
he said.

"Things will get worse unless there is a change of policy," he
added

Zimbabwe's economy has been on a downturn over the past seven years
with four in every five persons out of work and perennial shortages of
commodities like sugar, cooking oil and fuel in the one-time bread basket of
Africa.

Over 80 percent of the population is living below the poverty
threshold often skipping meals or cycling or walking long distances to work
in order to stretch their wages.

The government blames the economic
crisis on targetted sanctions imposed on veteran President Robert Mugabe and
members of his inner circle by the United States and the European Union
following presidential polls in 2002 which the opposition and western
observers charged were rigged.

Part of the problem is a desperate lack of
foreign currency with the Zimbabwean dollar only fetching a fraction at
official rates as on the thriving black market.

In his address, Gono
effectively devalued the currency for exporters and those holding foreign
exchange by 99 percent in a move seen as an attempt to increase the inflows
of foreign currency.

Shying away from calling it devaluation, Gono said
the rate at which foreign currency account holders can sell their foreign
cash would be 60 times higher.

Before the devaluation, the Zimbabwean
dollar had been trading at around 25,000 to the greenback, against the
official rate of 250 dollars.

Legacy of a failed coup

Apr 26th 2007From Economist.com

Our online
news editor learns that few have time for plots

Thursday

I
ADMIT a private interest in going to Harare. Simon Mann, a British mercenary
and aristocrat, a former officer of the Special Air Services, was nabbed at
Harare airport a few years ago while trying to buy a plane-load of grenades
and automatic rifles. He was detained with 60-odd fellow hired guns and,
eventually, jailed for breaking various petty laws. His real crime was
plotting, rather ambitiously, to overthrow the government of an oil-rich
African dictatorship, Equatorial Guinea, a close ally of Zimbabwe. Now he is
rotting in a maximum security prison here, a place called Chikurubi. Last
year I wrote a book on the failed coup attempt, and I wonder what has since
happened to Mr Mann.

In previous visits I tried to get to the prison
to see the unlucky plotter. Unsurprisingly, that proved impossible. But I
have seen his various lawyers, including two in Harare, and one or two
well-connected Zimbabweans who have their own theories on the mercenary's
scheme. One close ally of Robert Mugabe suggested to me that the plot's true
goal was to get Zimbabwe's rulers in trouble. If only.

According to
various reports, Mr Mann is no longer in good shape. Apparently he suffers
from severe organ failure. He desperately needs medical attention. He has
had a hernia. Well, maybe.

Without being uncharitable-I have no doubt
that Chikurubi is an unwholesome place to be-I suspect that Mr Mann's sudden
rash of ill-health may be an attempt to quash efforts by slippery lawyers to
extradite him to Equatorial Guinea. If Mr Mann can be shown to be ill,
extradition may prove harder to achieve. In any case, he should know his
fate within weeks, when he will be either released or bundled onto a plane
(presumably in exchange for cheap oil and suitcases stuffed with cash) to
Equatorial Guinea.

The extradition hearings took place last week in his
prison. It seems that the authorities worry that Mr Mann might stage an
escape or be rescued by other mercenaries. Earlier in the week Jonathan
Moyo, an independent MP, said that the CIA was rumoured to be planning to
break Mr Mann from prison. Now that would make a dramatic
epilogue.

But these days nobody in Harare seems interested in talking
about a plot. The main preoccupation is the misery of daily living. A
friend, a Zimbabwean journalist, has long resisted the idea that his country
is falling apart. But a once reliable electricity grid is breaking down,
forcing residents to set up noisy generators in their back gardens. Harare
is growing darker at night. Crime used to be low; now petty crooks, robbers,
shoplifters and the like are increasingly active. Corruption is more
common.

My friend is changing his view. He gave in last month and bought
a generator. Needing a cable, he ordered one on a Thursday afternoon and was
charged Z$3m (about $12,000). By Monday, when he collected it, the price was
$4.5m. In Mugabeland, getting through the day is becoming a full-time job.
No one has time to worry about bizarre stories of mercenary plots.

Factionalism grips Zanu PF over Mugabe's 2008 presidential
bid

Sokwanele

Sokwanele Article : 26 April 2007Factionalism has gripped the ruling
party's Bulawayo Province following revelations that the majority of members
are against the fielding of President Robert Mugabe in next year's
presidential election proposed to run simultaneously with local government
and parliamentary polls.

Authoritative sources within the party said this
week the entire leadership in Bulawayo Province was seriously divided with a
few backing Mugabe while the majority were in favour of Vice President Joice
Mujuru and former Zanu PF intelligence chief and current Minister of Rural
Housing and Amenities Emmerson Mnangagwa.

"There are definitely three
factions one led by John Nkomo who supports Mugabe as the party candidate
for the presidential election and two others led by Joshua Malinga and
Dumiso Dabengwa who are backing Mnangagwa and Mujuru respectively," said one
of the sources, a member of the politburo, the party's most powerful
decision-making body.

Nkomo - the chairman of the ruling party, Speaker
of Parliament, a relative of President Mugabe and has presidential ambitions
- is believed to be in favour of the 83 year-old Zimbabwean leader as Mugabe
appears to have a soft spot for him.

"The ruling party chairman has
always featured in all Cabinet reshuffles since independence and had to be
persuaded by his PF Zapu colleagues to leave his cabinet post when Zapu was
kicked out of the government in the early 1980s following a 'discovery' of
military weapons cached by the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA)
in Matabeleland.

ZIPRA was the armed wing of PF Zapu led by former Vice
President Joshua Nkomo. It was accused by the Mugabe regime of attempting to
topple the government by military force.

The sources further said a
few members of the ruling party's Women's League and former members of Zanu
PF's armed wing, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), were
backing Nkomo in supporting President Robert Mugabe's unpopular move to
contest in next year's presidential election.

"This is just a group of
few people who want Mugabe to contest the election. Otherwise they are an
unpopular Bulawayo provincial group even if the Zanu PF Central Committee
recently endorsed Mugabe as the party's candidate for next year's
presidential election," said another source, a member of the party's central
committee.

On the other hand, the sources said former Zapu intelligence
supremo, Dumiso Dabengwa, appeared to have an upper hand over other factions
as he was believed to be making underground maneuvres together with ex-army
commander General Solomon Mujuru to catapult the latter's wife, Joice, to
Zimbabwe's top most political position.

"Dabengwa has the backing of
members of the party's Youth League in Bulawayo Province, most members of
the Women's League and the current provincial executive committees of the
War Veterans Association and the party's main wing," said a source close to
the veteran politician who is also a top member of the War Veterans
Association.

He said: "At the same time, the Dabengwa faction is courting
members of the opposition in an effort to make a surprise move towards the
presidential election by fielding Vice President Joice Mujuru to fight it
out with President Mugabe.

"This will be a coalition movement with
members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and other opposition
parties fed up with Mugabe's iron-first rule. This faction is on a public
relations exercise trying to fool Mugabe to appear as if it is on his side
while waiting to make a surprise political move towards the 2008
presidential election."

The sources said Dabengwa, President Mugabe's
most feared remnant of the once-lethal revolutionary PF Zapu, had nothing to
lose if he opposed President Mugabe as the ruling elite had sidelined him
for a long time.

"He has taken a gamble and once this works out, he might
revive his political career. Dabengwa has never been trusted by Mugabe from
the time he was the intelligence chief of Zapu," said one of the sources
within the politburo.

The source said as for the Joshua Malinga
faction, it appeared to be losing grip of the War Veterans Association and
executive committee members of the ruling party in the province following a
foiled nationally-crafted palace coup in 2004 affectionately known as the
Tsholotsho Declaration.

Most members of this faction attempted to elect
Mnangagwa to the post of Vice President of the party and Zimbabwe at the
last party Congress when seven out of 10 chairmen of the ruling party's
provincial executives and other top members of the party met in Tsholotsho
to block the election of Joice Mujuru.

When the plot was unearthed,
they were subsequently fired by the ruling party for attempting to stage a
palace coup which could have seen Mnangagwa taking over from the late Vice
President Simon Muzenda and Patrick Chinamasa being elected party chairman
instead of John Nkomo.

The meeting was designed to get rid of the old
Zapu guard like Vice President Joseph Msika, John Nkomo, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu,
Effort Nkomo and other top party members. This would have led to the gradual
political demise of President Mugabe.

"This faction therefore appears
to have lost it when they attempted to stage a palace coup and is now seen
as docile. Although it is still being supported by former freedom fighters
like Jabulani Sibanda and his few followers, it is toothless," said another
source, a war veteran.

The source said: "The leader of this faction
(Malinga) is widely seen by most Zanu PF cadres and former members of PF
Zapu as a total failure. He was given a chance to run the City of Bulawayo
as mayor but did not command a lot of respect among his party
colleagues.

"At the same time, he has failed to garner support in any
election and as a result he can't win the hearts of serious politicians. The
person (Mnangagwa) that the faction is backing is viewed as having played a
key role in the deployment of the Five Brigade which killed over 20 000
civilians in Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces at the height of the
civil strife of the 1980s pitting Zanu PF and PF Zapu."

The North
Korean-trained brigade, commonly known as Gukurahundi, was deployed by the
government to hunt down so-called dissidents which were allegedly backed by
Joshua Nkomo in an attempt to topple the Mugabe
administration.

Despite the faction fighting in the Bulawayo
Province, it remains to be seen whether the Dabengwa and Malinga factions
will have the nerve to field candidates against President Mugabe, widely
referred worldwide as Africa's Hitler.

Their other fear might be the
non-alignment of Vice President Msika to any of the factions. Msika is
believed to be the king maker in the region after the death of Vice
President Joshua Nkomo.

"We don't fear Mugabe or any person in the ruling
party. He (Mugabe) is a human being like all of us . Time will come when he
has to be forced to go and we will do it . In 2008, he has to pave way for
another president," said a member of the Malinga faction who is also one of
the leaders of the party's provincial Youth League.

Zimbabwe sets up diamonds whistle blowers fund

Gideon Gono, the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe governor, announced the fund while unveiling his monetary
policy statement in Bulawayo where he is attending an annual trade
fair.

He said the fund, which will come into full force Friday, has been
necessitated by the continued spate of leakages of precious minerals
including gold and diamonds, threatening the performance of the
economy.

"It has become necessary that the Reserve Bank resuscitates the
whistle blowers programme for gold and diamonds under which the whistle
blowers will be paid 5% of the value of actual prosecuted recoveries from
their reported cases.

"To complement the envisaged benefits of the
whistle blowers programme, the Reserve Bank is deepening its Anti-Money
Laundering and Exchange Control Inspectorate arms to ensure the illegal
parallel market activities are sufficiently dealt with," Gono
said.

Gono revealed that gold continued to under perform, registering a
total of 2.24 tonnes during the first quarter of 2007 - representing a
decline of 19%, on the 2.76 tonnes registered over the same period in
2006.

He attributed the fall in output to combined effects of viability
problems and rampant smuggling which he said has put a dent on "what
traditionally stood as the country's reserve asset of last
resort."

Several top government officials and civil servants have been
implicated in the smuggling of diamonds in Chiadzwa area, Marange, where
diamond deposits where unearthed towards the end of 2006.

High
ranking cabinet ministers and security agents have been named as some of the
people behind the smuggling of diamonds, although no arrests and
prosecutions have been made.

In a joint operation involving police
and the Central Intelligenc Organisation (CIO), the RBZ has unearthed gold
rackets and syndicates in small towns involving Zanu PF legislators and
businessmen.

Since the turn of the year, police have nabbed nearly 32 000
people -- but none of the implicated government officers -- in a blitz
code-named Chikorokoza Chapera, casting doubts the government's seriousness
to curb the plunder of minerals.

Police recovered 3,6kg of gold and 7
868 diamonds since the blitz was launched in November.

Only one
notable Zanu PF official, William Nhara, was arrested after he tried to
smuggle diamonds worth US$130 000 out of the country through the Harare
International Airport.

Nhara, who is the Zanu PF Harare province
spokesman, is out on bail.

Zimbabwe is losing between US$40-US$50 million
every week through the smuggling of precious minerals, especially gold, said
Gono.

In February, a Harare magistrate was arrested together with seven
others in Mhangura where they were allegedly panning for gold.

A week
later, police raided a house belonging to Zimbabwe Defence Industries boss,
retired Colonel Tshinga Dube, and arrested his son who was released on
bail.

A New Zimbabwe:
Brave and confused

Comment from The Mail & Guardian (SA), 25 April

Gugulethu Moyo

Outside the cities, few
people in Zimbabwe read newspapers. The state press belongs to Robert Mugabe
and he controls television and radio stations. There is no doubt that the
deck is heavily stacked in the president's favour. So it was hardly a
surprise when, invited to share his vision of Zimbabwe's future with readers
of the Mail & Guardian, staffers in the office of MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai responded with enthusiasm. "This is wonderful," gushed
communications adviser George Sibotshiwe, "we will take you up on your
offer." That was on April 3, a month after we first asked the MDC leader to
contribute to these pages. Tsvangirai's spokesperson William Bango told the
editors of this supplement that Tsvangirai's article would arrive within two
weeks. He could not have known what the next fortnight would
bring.

On March 11, Tsvangirai and Bango were savagely beaten by police
in Harare. Television pictures showed Bango's bruised body and Tsvangirai
leaving hospital in a wheelchair. Doctors were said to be concerned that
Tsvangirai had received fractures to his skull. We feared he might never
write again. Then, a day after leaving hospital, Tsvangirai issued a
compelling account of his beating to the Independent, a British newspaper.
"They brutalised my flesh. But they will never break my spirit. I will
soldier on until Zimbabwe is free," he wrote. This was good news. We allowed
a decent time for the MDC leader to recover, and called again. Sibotshiwe
promised that Tsvangirai's contribution to this supplement was on its way.
Then the apologetic emails began: "I am sorry to let you know that we will
not be able to meet the deadline today," Sibotshiwe wrote on April 13.
"Tsvangirai has not finished editing his piece. He, however, promised to
give it to me on Sunday."

Naturally, we moved the deadline. On April
16, Sibotshiwe wrote again: "I am sorry to let you know we won't be able to
meet the deadline. I have just been given more definite times, the
indication is Thursday morning . if we promise you anything else, we will be
lying." Thursday morning passed. Sibotshiwe assured us that Tsvangirai's
article would be worth the wait. The MDC leader planned "exclusive
revelations". These would be ready by the weekend of April 22, just as the
editors of this supplement promised, in last week's edition, to M&G
readers. And then . nothing. Telephone calls and emails go unanswered.
Again, we feared the worst. We called Roy Bennett, a senior MDC member based
in South Africa. He explained that Bango, the party's chief of
communications, was still away from work after his beating at the hands of
police officers. Meanwhile, Tsvangirai had been picked up by the police
again: "He's busy running around, all our people in Zimbabwe are recovering
from beatings. They are not working."

But police harassment was not
the only problem. Bennett was also concerned with the finer points of press
freedom. M&G proprietor Trevor Ncube had "published some very damaging
things about the MDC in the M&G", said Bennett: "Why should we fit in
with his agenda now that it suits him?" The editors replied that this
particular objection had not been raised before. Surely, an article by
Tsvangirai was an ideal opportunity to correct the "damaging" reports in
Ncube's newspaper. Bennett appeared satisfied: "Fine, leave it to me," he
said. "You'll get the article tomorrow." As this newspaper goes to press, we
are still waiting and so we must apologise to readers who opened these pages
expecting to find the exclusive counsel of Tsvangirai. Perhaps it will be
some small consolation instead to consider the words of another MDC
president. One leader is not enough for Zimbabwe's opposition, after all.
The MDC - unable to agree on whether to contest or to boycott elections -
has split into two factions.

Each of these two MDCs has its own
president. The other one, Arthur Mutambara, shares his vision of the future
here. He says that the MDC must present a united front against Zanu PF.
Mutambara is an expert in robotics and computer science. Asked to write
about the prospects for Zimbabwe after Mugabe, he suggests that new wireless
data networks and biotechnology will revive the country's fortunes. It is
hard to avoid the conclusion that the MDC contributions (or lack of them) to
these pages is emblematic of the problems that confront Zimbabwe's
beleaguered opposition. Mugabe has little trouble from them. While the
83-year-old president dominates Zimbabwean politics, the two MDCs are
stubbornly unable to agree on a strategy to challenge his increasingly
dictatorial regime. Disorganised, divided and unequal to the fight, the MDC
has failed to forge a convincing coalition of his enemies. When people point
this out to the MDC, party leaders accuse their critics of harbouring hidden
"agendas". So MDC leaders may be encouraged to know that their difficulties
have not deterred some influential foreign friends. Robert Rotberg, the
Harvard University professor who has developed a new index of governance in
Africa, argues that the talents of MDC leaders will stand Zimbabwe in good
stead after Mugabe. Zimbabweans, meanwhile, are likely to be more sceptical.
Tempting though it might be to wish away the opposition's difficulties, it
is not yet clear how the two MDCs will be reunited. Nor how a newly
invigorated MDC will confront Mugabe. If only the undisputed courage of
Zimbabwe's opposition leaders were enough to oust Mugabe, the ageing despot
would be long gone.

A New Zimbabwe:
The military question

Comment from The Mail & Guardian (SA), 25 April

Martin Rupiya

Recent events in
Zimbabwe have shown how politics has become militarised and how the military
has become politicised. At policy level, the Joint Operational Command,
comprising the police, intelligence and military, has found that the
internal security situation was unstable and imposed a three-month ban on
all political activity. It is not surprising that the ruling party has
welcomed this restriction, while the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) has challenged it in court. Simultaneously, at the
implementation level, the state has enforced its provisions, leading to the
fatal shooting of National Constitutional Assembly youth organiser Gift
Tandare by the police during a political gathering. And, at the
operational/tactical level, the Central Intelligence Organisation, operating
through shadowy "hit squads", was among those involved in the snatching of
Gift's body, which was quickly interred without his wife's knowledge. The
move stopped what was clearly becoming the celebration of a
martyr.

The participation of the security forces in politics is a
deliberate strategy by Zanu PF in response to dwindling popular support and
its tendency to cast the crisis in war terminology. The question now arises
of what role the military will play in the transition that is now
inevitable. It has become inevitable for several reasons. Firstly, the
impact of violence against the opposition has fractured the ruling party and
seen the emergence of elements critical of the hard-line faction. The severe
economic downturn is also precipitating change, while deteriorating and
demoralising pay and conditions that affect all sectors, including the civil
service and security forces, is another factor. There has been little
attention paid to the role of the security forces in a transitional
government. nnouncements made by the military, reflecting on what it
understands its role in politics, need to be noted. Just before the June
2000 elections, army spokesperson Chancellor Diye announced that the army
was an apolitical institution and would not be involved in
politics.

Two years later, on January 9 2002, commanders from
intelligence, the air force, military, police and the prison service
supported the view of the commander of the defence forces (CDF), General
Vitalis Zvinavashe, that it would not recognise a president without
liberation credentials. This clearly referred to the opposition candidate of
the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai. Later, in December 2006, the then CDF, general
Constantine Chiwenga, called on the governor of the Reserve Bank and the
government to find a political and economic solution to the crisis and
warned that the defence force would not turn its guns on Zimbabweans. There
were also military-backed efforts to arrange inter-party talks - a process
that was stymied by Mugabe. Thus there are contradictory statements and
actions by very senior commanders that cast a different view of what has
been perceived as a partisan security force.

But before the
transitional role of the security forces is considered, the impact of the
crisis on the military needs to be examined. Select units, ranging from
intelligence to police units and to the national service, have constituted
the violent component of the ruling party strategy. This has degraded the
rest of the conventional and professional forces. The crisis has had an
impact on the police, leading to more than 3 500 members leaving by March
this year. There have also been unconfirmed reports of desertions and
resignations in large numbers from other uniformed services. If a transition
is to occur, it is likely that the competing factions within the ruling
party are already canvassing key elements within the ranks. In addition, the
nature of the structure of the ruling party and the military is such that
there is a cross-representation of both in each of the
structures.

The scenario most likely to emerge is that a faction
of the ruling party - one that is able to sideline the now discredited
hard-line element around the presidency - will assume power within the
constitutional framework. This faction will then invite the political
opposition into a transitional arrangement, while continuing to "control"
the military. Based on this reformed legitimacy framework, the new
transitional arrangement would then call for support from the region and the
relaxation of international sanctions. It is very likely that the military
will continue to support such a process. In a transition, security-sector
reform must be part of the post-conflict and reconstruction process.
Vengeful and petty politics that will seek to deconstruct the security
forces and leave the country bare must, however, be guarded against. In
Iraq, the summary disbandment of Saddam's forces has come back to haunt that
country. For the way forward, and once the current political elite has
departed, the military must again be urged to abandon politics and return to
the barracks.

Dr Martin Rupiya is a military historian and retired
colonel of the Zimbabwe armed forces. He works for the Institute for
Security Studies in South Africa

Alert! Zanu PF Extorts from
Dzivarasekwa vendors

26 April 2007

Zanu PF officials from Harare Province are allocating market
stalls to residents in Dzivarasekwa 1, 2, and 3. One of the officials
responsible for Dzivarasekwa 2 only identified as Mr Mapuranga goes around
shopping centres and demands that those selling their wares must pay a certain
amount of money in order to be allowed to operate as vendors. The figures being
charged vary from $5 000 to $11 000 every month since February this
year.

Mr Mapuranga allegedly acts as the shadow councillor for Ward 40.
He works in cahoots with another senior Zanu PF official in the Provincial
Women’s League Executive only identified by residents as Mrs Muswe and is
believed to be working as a nurse aide at Belvedere Clinic.

According to
Rorani Muchiwa, the CHRA Chairperson for Ward 40 in Dzivarasekwa those who
refuse to pay the demanded money are barred from selling their wares at the
market and face constant harassment from the Zanu PF activists in the
area.

The majority of the vendors in Dzivarasekwa are victims of the
widely-condemned Operation Murambatsvina which was launched by government in May
2005, leaving 700 000 people homeless and in need of food
aid.

Ends________________________________________________________________________For
further details please contact us on chrainfo@zol.co.zw, and on mobile 091 924
151, 011 862 012, 011 443 578 and 011 612 860 or visit us at Exploration House,
Third Floor, Corner Robert Mugabe Way and Fifth
Street.

Alert: Residents of Harare receive letters of demand from
City of Harare

26 April 2007

THE Combined Harare Residents’ Association (CHRA) is
saddened by the approach of the City of Harare towards finding a lasting
solution to the crisis of city governance. The Association is concerned with the
continued refusal by those in charge at Town House to accept that they no longer
have mandate to continue running the affairs of the city.

Reports
reaching CHRA indicate that the City of Harare has been sending out letters of
demand from their debt collectors, threatening to seize peoples’ properties if
they do not pay up their outstanding rates within a given time.

CHRA
urges all residents who have received these letters to bring them to our offices
at the address given below or take them to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR) for immediate litigation.

The Association rejects the continued
stay of the Commission and all its actions thereof because of the reasons given
below;

· The High Court in Case Number between Nomutsa Chideya
vs. City of Harare, the eight Commissioners including Sekesai Makwavarara, the
Chairperson of the Commission running Harare, and the four-man probe team that
recommended Chideya’s dismissal ruled that the Commission was illegal and has no
mandate to act on behalf of the City of Harare.

· The 2007 City
of Harare Budget was formulated, approved and is being implemented by the
Commission declared illegal by the High Court on 2 March 2007, making its
actions null, void and of no force at law.

· The principles of
democratic governance require that elections must be held regularly. In the case
of Harare and other local authorities after every four years, as enshrined in
the Urban Councils’ Act (Chapter 29:15). The last election in Harare was held
in March 2002 when Engineer Elias Mudzuri was elected the first Executive Mayor.
The elections are now long overdue.

· The term of the Commission
running Harare has been illegally extended by the Minister of Local Government,
Public Works and Urban Development, Ignatius Chiminya Morgan Chombo, in total
violation of Section 80 (5) of the Urban Councils’ Act (Chapter
29:15).

· The Judiciary has ruled on five occasions that the
principle of re-appointing commissions is
illegal.

Ends________________________________________________________________________For
further details please contact us on chrainfo@zol.co.zw, and on mobile 091 924
151, 011 862 012, 011 443 578 and 011 612 860 or visit us at Exploration House,
Third Floor, Corner Robert Mugabe Way and Fifth Street.

Alert: Zanu PF thugs detain CHRA Members

26 April 2007

THE
thuggery of the ruling party youths yesterday reared its ugly head in Highfield
when two CHRA members Lloyd Kumwenda and another resident only identified as
Dangazela were forcibly detained at the party’s offices at Machipisa Shopping
Centre.

Kumwenda is the coordinator for Ward 26 while Dangazela is an
ordinary resident and also resides in Highfield.

They were accused of
wearing T-shirts with messages deemed ‘inappropriate’ by Zanu PF’. Kumwenda wore
a CHRA T-Shirt inscribed ‘No to ZINWA’ at the back while Dangazela put on a
T-Shirt with a ZCTU logo. The ruling Zanu PF has branded CHRA, ZCTU and other
civic and political groups as ‘agents of western imperialists’, and working
towards the so-called ‘regime change agenda’. Both CHRA and ZCTU deny these
allegations.

According to Tungamirai Madzokere, the Chairperson of
CHRA’s Welfare Committee, the two were walking to Machipisa Shopping Centre
towards 2pm on Wednesday when suddenly they found themselves surrounded by
zealous and foul-mouthed Zanu PF youths.

Madzokere said: “They were
taken to the Zanu PF offices at Machipisa and were ordered to roll in dirty
water before being severely bashed underneath their feet and all over their
bodies. The youths forced them to sing and chant Zanu PF songs and slogans. They
passed out several times before they were released around
5pm.”

Suspected State security agents have previously visited Kumwenda
at his house and threatened him with death for his active role in pro-democracy
activities.

About 12 CHRA members have so far been victims of
State-sanctioned brutality since 11 March when armed police suppressed a prayer
meeting at Zimbabwe Grounds, arrested, detained and brutalized opposition and
pro-democracy activists, among them MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai and CHRA
Chairperson Michael Jeffrey Davies.

Kumwenda and Dangazela sustained
bruises all over their bodies and have been referred to a private hospital for
medical
attention.

Dispatch: Zimbabwe Set For MSG

Filter Magazine

by Staff |
04.25.2007

Dispatch: Zimbabwe has been set for July 13-15 at Madison
Square Garden. The charity event will feature Boston roots-rock band,
Dispatch, who have reunited in order to raise money and awareness for the
alarming situation in Zimbabwe. Dispatch will donate 100% of the proceeds
towards fighting disease, famine, and social injustice in the African
country. Dispatch will make monetary contributions to local charities like
Books for Kids, Rock For A Remedy and Musicians on Call who will organize
book, food and CD drives during the Madison Square Garden run. The three
nights, which sold out in 30 minutes each, makes Dispatch the first
independent band to ever sell out Madison Square Garden. Dispatch will take
the next 4 months to decide which specific organizations it will donate the
proceeds to. The band will visit the African country in May.

The
economic crises in Zimbabwe is worsening at an alarming rate. At the
beginning of 2007, Zimbabwe's inflation rose to 1,281%, the highest in the
world. Unemployment is over 85%, poverty over 90%, and foreign reserves are
almost depleted. Over four million persons are in desperate need of food.
One in four citizens are HIV positive. Coupled with severe malnutrition,
thousands are dying every month. Combined with a consistent lack of potable
water, power, perpetual regional drought, over all environmental degradation
and the recent displacement of hundreds of thousands desperately poor from
urban areas, the country is on the brink of ruin.

Zimbabwe Cricket and the media

Silencing the critics

Martin
Williamson

April 26, 2007

At the end of last week Cricinfo
received an email from Zimbabwe Cricket advising us that it was no longer
prepared to have any communication with us and would not be answering any
media queries. "Really?" said a colleague when I told him. "You mean they
have been for the last two years?"

In essence, ZC is unhappy with the
articles we have run which have been critical of it and the way it has run
the game. "We have been hard pressed to see the two sides to every story in
your recent articles on Zimbabwe," Lovemore Banda, the media manager, wrote.
"You will agree that it is an exercise in futility for us to be responding
to enquiries."

In fairness, we have run articles before the board has
replied to queries. Often that has been because we have been kept waiting -
regularly more than a week, sometimes two or three - or have been ignored
altogether. We have also declined on occasion to scrap stories just because
they have been labelled as rubbish by the board. We have been accused of
hidden agendas and lies, and yet the passage of time has shown almost
everything we have written to be accurate ... and when we have found
inaccuracies, they have been corrected.

The real issue here is that
Zimbabwe Cricket operates in a country where there is almost no free speech,
and what independent thought exists is regularly and brutally suppressed.
There are almost no foreign journalists left operating inside Zimbabwe, and
new laws passed earlier in the month make reporting from there without
government-approved accreditation, or harbouring anyone who does, punishable
with two years in prison.

Even operating within the rules is nigh on
impossible. In February, Cricinfo attempted to send a reporter to cover the
Bangladesh one-day series. The fee for even applying for accreditation was
US$600. The authorities delayed so long that by the time we actually heard
back from them, the series was more than half over. It was an
all-too-familiar policy of obstruction. Back in 2004 Mihir Bose, a
well-respected journalist working for The Daily Telegraph, was deported and
in the UK parliament Labour MP Kate Hoey noted that he "was not given the
slightest bit of support by the Zimbabwe board".

Zimbabwe Cricket has
almost no critics at home, mainly because the government has shut down all
but two privately-owned weekly newspapers and there is no independent
electronic media. The main newspaper, The Daily Herald, is a propaganda
sheet that would make the old Soviet Pravda blush with embarrassment. A
cursory glance at its headlines underlines that. What is more, we have
learned that its sports reporters are regularly feted by ZC officials, and
the cash-strapped board has allegedly paid for several overseas trips for
its writers. It's hardly surprising that ZC is given an easy ride in the
state media, and, on occasion, board officials are believed to be allowed to
write and plant stories under pseudonyms.

In 2005, Ozias Bvute, the
board's MD, called Cricinfo and demanded to know the whereabouts of Steven
Price, the Harare-based journalist who continues to defy the authorities and
file reports for us. When we refused, Bvute said that we were operating
outside the law as we were using unapproved contributors. "Why will you not
tell me his whereabouts," Bvute asked. "What has he got to be afraid of." If
it wasn't so chilling it would almost be funny.

Last week, a
senior foreign reporter for a major Eropean newspaper told me that the
government had issued security warnings against the few foreign journalists
left in the country, and that the remaining handful were either getting out
or lying low. Photographers and cameramen have been attacked by police, and
earlier this month a retired journalist who spoke out was abducted from his
home and his mutilated body was found a few days later 40 km north of
Harare.

Many people who have contributed to Cricinfo in the past have
stopped, either because they are frightened or, in some instances, because
they have been directly threatened.

So, Zimbabwe Cricket is able to
carry on, and the allegations by stakeholders of gross mismanagement of
finances and administration go almost unreported. The decision to shun
Cricinfo is another attempt to stifle any criticism.

"There is no
transparency, no observation of the constitution and no accountability," a
former provincial chairman said this week. "They want to hide issues and do
not allow any debate and resent anybody raising any issues or questioning
them."

Last year, Peter Chingoka, the board's chairman, accused Cricinfo
of being "mired in skulduggery". He added, in a letter which he sent to all
members of the ICC executive in a clear bid to undermine the credibility of
our coverage of his board's activities: "The line between hearsay and
credible information is constantly erased and re-drawn, as the two are
freely interchanged ... you do not hesitate to cultivate and flaunt your
contacts, jealously guarding their identities in the process."

The
relationship wasn't always so fractious. In 2000, Cricinfo donated Zim$5
million (then about US$150,000) to the then Zimbabwe Cricket Union to help
with the development of the game in the country. Although Chingoka remains
at the helm, almost everyone who was associated with the board back then has
disappeared, increasingly replaced with often hand-picked and almost
universally compliant appointees.

One day, the truth will all
come out. Meanwhile, it is more important than ever for people like Steven
Price to continue to file reports and to tell the world - and the executive
board of the ICC which continues to adopt a policy of looking the other way
- what is really happening.

Students abduction continues

The Zimbabwean

(26-04-07)THE
STUDENT

.as Hillside Teachers College student leader
disappears____________ _________ _________ _________ _________
___Hillside Teachers College Students Union President, Tafadzwa Chengewa,
was yesterday abducted from his campus` residence in the city of Bulawayo.
Tafadzwa was abducted at around 2000 hours by four unidentified men clad in
black pair of suits, driving an unregistered Mazda 323 vehicle. Tafadzwa's
whereabouts are still not known. The government of Robert Mugabe has
resorted to covert operations of abducting, assaulting and at times
murdering innocent citizens, students
included. ____________ _________
_________ _________ _________ ________Food crisis at Masvingo State
University continues

Meanwhile, students at Masvingo State University
are still in deep-seated food crisis. Students are being denied access to
food. Two student activists, Whitlow Mgwiji and Edwin Hlatswayo, were
indefinitely suspended for addressing a students gathering over the plight.
Their future is now bleak.

Ironically, the university authorities
claim that there is normal business on campus, yet they went on to suspend
the Lecturers Union leadership. The suspension came after the lecturers
refused to take the meager salary increases that were awarded vis-à-vis the
sky rocketing increases of basic services and food. Professionals have been
reduced to destitute life style. In solidarity with the suspended
leadership, all other lecturers at Masvingo State University declared an
indefinite strike and lectures have grounded to a
halt. ____________
_________ _________ _________ ______ Accomodation crisis at Bulawayo
poly

There is a serious accommodation crisis at Bulawayo Polytechnic
College. Students Halls of residence have been allocated to college staff,
that is, the security guards, cooks, general hand, academic and non-academic
staff yet students are told to look for alternative accommodation or else
pay ten thousand Zimbabwean dollars (Z$10 000-00) per day whilst the workers
are paying that same amount per month. The prioritizing of the students'
halls of residence to college staff came after a negotiation of salary
packages, where the Vice Principal Mr. Gilbert Mabasa offered students
accommodation to his staff. The halls of residence in Matshobane (Rio Tinto
Foundation Hostel) have since been occupied.

On Monday 23
April 2007, one student activist, Maxwell Chikara was raided at around
1800hrs at his room by 2 college security guards, Mr. Banda (deputy dean of
students), F. Sibanda (matron), and Mr. Muchiya (Human Resources Officer).
The gang demanded his immediate eviction citing that his room was long
allocated to one staff member. The student denied them entry irregardless of
the persistent and exasperating bangs on the door. The gang later called the
Police as back up. The student was arrested and made to pay a hefty fine.
His keys were confisticated by the police.

Student leader abducted in Bulawayo

(26-04-07)Barely a
week after two student leaders were abducted by the ruthlessstate security
agencies in Bulawayo, another student leader, TafadzwaChengewa, has been
abducted.

His whereabouts is not known!

He was abducted last night
in a city flat in Bulawayo's CBD. He is thePresident of United College of
Education (UCE).

Chengewa was forcibly taken from a flat in Bulawayo by
unidentifiedhenchmen and other student leaders in Bulawayo now fear for
their lives.

This latest of wave of abductions, which come on the
heels of sweepingcountrywide abductions by a feared vigilante group of
security agencieshas sent the whole student leadership in Bulawayo scurrying
for safety -on the run, in fear of their lives.

Trust Nhubu and
Valencia Jachi were last week abducted by state securityagencies after
being accused of passing critical comments in a publicmeeting. They were
severely tortured and both were dumped 200km
outsideBulawayo.

Zimbabwe to develop hydro plants

afrol News, 26 April - The government of
Zimbabwe on Tuesday entered into agreement with an undisclosed Russian
company to address frequuent power shortages by developing small hydro
plants in the southern African country.

"These [hydro power plants] will
be located mainly in remote areas not covered by the grid. They are expected
to bring life to these areas by way of poverty alleviation," Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) confirmed.

"Where the power
plants are located in areas covered by the grid, transmission loses will be
reduced drastically. The construction of a 5MW plant on Mutirikwi Dam to
supply Masvingo town will cause a gain of 7MW on the system."

ZESA
officials said the move is necessitated by dwindling power output of the
country's main generator - Hwange Power Station.

Though Hwange station
has a capacity of 920 MW, it however generates only 320MW on a daily basis.
This is mainly due to the destruction of engines at the station.

The
state-owned utility company officials would not disclose where they secure
funding for the project. All that Zimbabweans were informed was that an
unnamed regional power company has agreed to bankroll the project.

In
recent years, most Zimbabweans have been coping to live with frequent
outages caused by shortages of foreign currency. Because of its tattered
human rights credentials, Zimbabwe government has been battling to secure
foreign currency to import spare parts to repair the engines of Hwange
Thermal Power Station.

In January, ZESA said it was suffering with
sweeping and extended power cuts. With unsustainable debts, ZESA was forced
to lay off much of its staff immediately.

The utility company's board
Chairman, Professor Christopher Chetsanga, earlier on said ZESA was in debt
to the tune of over US $420 million, which was why it would immediately lay
off 600 of its staff.

Zimbabwe's inability to produce sufficient energy
supply has forced the country to import 35 percent of the national
requirement, or 650MW, from neighbouring South Africa, Democratic Republic
of Congo and Mozambique.

Zim sports heroes must speak up

Mail and Guardian

Percy Zvomuya

26 April 2007 11:14

What
would happen if Portsmouth's Benjani Mwaruwaru was to score a goal and
dedicate it to the hundreds of opposition activists who are in detention
now, to the thousands of people who are dying of Aids because they have no
access to ARVs and the millions who have been forced to flee from their
homes because of the crisis in Zimbabwe?

One assumes it would
jolt hordes of Pompey's in Southampton. It would bring to the attention of
the British public the mounting crisis in Zimbabwe but, most crucially, it
would cause Zimbabwe's leadership to sit up and, who knows, listen to one of
their country's iconic youths.

For it's not every day that
our societies -- who seem to have an inherent disdain for youth -- will sit
back to listen to a 28-year-old. But if the 28-year-old happens to play for
Arsenal, Mamelodi Sundowns or is a tennis star and can summon a press
conference to air his or her views, then it's different story
altogether.

Most of these personalities earn a lot of money,
are idolised by millions of schoolboys and schoolgirls and sports-crazy
people listen to what they say.

If Mwaruwaru were to
protest in this way, he would not be the first to do so.

At the last Cricket World Cup, former Zimbabwean cricketers Andy Flower and
Henry Olonga took a stand.

It could have been in an inspired
moment away from the cricket pitch that the meaning of the adage, "for evil
to prosper, good men have only to do nothing", weighed on their consciences.
But it was on the pitch that they decided to wear black armbands, "mourning
the death of democracy" in Zimbabwe.

They decided that
they could not play cricket as if everything was normal in the ghettos, on
the farms and in the rural areas of Zimbabwe. They had heard people were
being beaten, had probably seen someone being tortured, maimed and in all
likelihood had seen pictures of those who had been
killed.

And they resolved to make a stand against the
oppression.

"We cannot, in good conscience, take to the field
and ignore the fact that millions of our compatriots are starving,
unemployed and oppressed," they said. Their statement continued: "We are
aware that hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans may even die in the coming
months through a combination of starvation, poverty and
Aids."

After wearing the armbands during a match against
Namibia, Olonga was to play a bit-part role for the rest of the tournament.
His international career, which had not really been going anywhere, had
gloriously come to an end.

Olonga had arrived in 1995 on
the cricket scene with a flourish. He was the only black player in the team;
he was the youngest, too. Never had youth, talent and race gelled so
naturally to produce a hero for the hundreds of thousands of black boys who
also wanted to take up cricket. Sadly, he was not to fulfil his potential,
largely because of injuries.

"I've had many pleasant memories
over the years and great satisfaction from playing this game," Olonga said
when he retired from cricket.

"I've had some highs and
lows, but I'm really glad I've stood for what I believed was right. It's sad
that my career may end in this way, but I've done the right thing and I'll
stand by it. If we fail as a world to do and recognise what is right, then
we fail ourselves and we fail our children."

Four years
on, the crisis moves into overdrive with no solution in sight, a development
that makes the hotel brawl involving former Coventry, Birmingham, Sheffield
United and now Sundowns striker Peter Ndlovu and Mwaruwaru over a girlfriend
sad.

Ndlovu is one of Zimbabwe's most iconic sports
personalities. He went to play for Coventry as a teenager and dazzled the
English public with his pace and tricks with the ball. So enamoured were
they that they called him the "flying elephant" (ndlovu is Ndebele for
elephant). Likewise Mwaruwaru, a son of Malawian immigrants, was a hero
wherever he played.

Their relations have been strained,
especially as Ndlovu's football appeal and prowess is washing out. But no
one thought it would plummet to such depths.

Windows and
tables at Harare's Crest Lodge Hotel were smashed as they fought over an
ex-girlfriend. Mwaruwaru denied the incident by saying: "I don't fight about
girlfriends. I have a lot of them, and I am married."

Of
course, we are not asking our sports heroes to leave football, cricket and
become anti-war activists, Noam Chomskys, Dennis Brutuses and newspapers
columnists, but if the situation demands it, why not?

When Flower and Olonga made their stand in 2003, no one thought the crisis
would reach the deathly proportions it has reached now. It is easy to
dismiss the gesture as just that: a gesture. But Olonga can sleep in peace
and say, "I did what I could in the circumstances."